I'll Be There For You
by Narwa 1
Summary: Hermione isn't who she thinks she is, Draco is finding out new things about himself, and Ron and Harry must make a decission, or risk destroying their lives, lives of others, and old and new friendships...
1. Dursley's and Harry

DISCLAIMER!!!!!! I, unfortunately, don't own any of these characters. So don't bugg me about that. Oh, and because I don't, I can have them do anything I want them too, so there :0P (just kidding)  
  
CHAPTER ONE: DURSLEY'S AND HARRY  
  
"Harry hun, could you go get Dudley for me?" Aunt petunia asked sweetly. Harry mentally gagged at how sweetly she talked to him. No matter what his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin did, he knew they still really did hate him. Still, he wanted to keep the peace, so he walked out of the room and got Dudley.  
"Your ma wants you." he said to Dudley before leaving quickly. Dudley got up, grumbling all the way as he heaved himself to his feet and down the hall. He came out of the kitchen soon after he entered it, and was fuming.  
"You" he said, seeing Harry. "You used to do all the work! Now I have to do it. What did you do to my parents? I know you must have used some of your magic on them for them to act so nice to you as if they liked you." He spat out the last few words. Dudley was coming very close to him, yet Harry didn't move. Dudley punched, but Harry dodged it. He landed a square punch under Dudley's jaw. Dudley looked surprised at how hard Harry had punched. Harry had been working out because of quidditch the past few years. Now he was solid muscle and very strong. Dudley's surprise quickly turned to anger. He threw a punch. This time Harry wasn't so lucky. It caught him on the side of the face. His vision went blurry for a min. Dudley took that opportunity to punch him again, knocking him to the floor. Harry recovered much quicker though and landed another punch under Dudley's chin.  
When Aunt Petunia walked into the room a little while later, she found Harry and Dudley fighting. She shrieked and the boys stopped in mid punch. "What are you doing!" She screeched at them. "I thought I told you to go weed Dudley? And Harry, I thought you had homework to do?" The two boys continued to stare at her. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go do what you are supposed to be doing." She said leaving the room. Harry and Dudley go ready to continue their fight, when from down the hall they heard Aunt Petunia yell "And no more fighting!" They both stared at each other, both wondering if she had eyes at the back of her head. Harry answered that thought immediately though.  
Of course she doesn't. He thought grimly to himself. That would involve her being something not normal, and Dursley's are the most normal of people you will meet. He went back to his room and closed his door. No sooner had he done this than his Aunt knocked on his door.  
"Harry hun, I'm going shopping. You need new clothes. Come on." When Harry didn't move, she snapped get moving! Before she relaxed and laughed a little before leaving the room.  
Since when did she buy me new clothes? Harry thought to himself. I usually have to shrink Dudley's old stuff with magic when I get to school.  
Three hours later, he walked back into the house and up to his room, dragging bag upon bag of clothes and shoes and other things. He had to admit that Aunt petunia certainly had a good sense of style. She had bought him the best that money could buy. He now had Ralf Lauren Shirts and khakis, Allen Edmund shoes, Armani suits, and then a lot of Tommy Hilfiger jeans and sweaters and shirts. All fit him well. He didn't even think Dudley had such high quality clothes. He realized that he was smiling and immediately sobered. He shouldn't be so happy over material possessions. That was something that Malfoy would do! The thought of that made him shudder. He didn't want to be anything like that.  
He went downstairs to thank his Aunt. It didn't mater if she was faking being nice or not. He still would be courteous and give his thanks to her. As he approached the kitchen door, he stopped. Dudley was complaining, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were trying to comfort him. Harry leaned his ear to the door to listen.  
"Ever since you found out about his money, you are being so nice to him. You make me do all the work." Dudley wailed.  
"Sweetums, don't cry." Aunt petunia said. Harry could only imagine the scene. She was probably throwing her arms around him, trying to comfort him.  
"It's only for a while son. We want to get on his good side so that we can get to his money. Do you know how rich that boy is?" That was uncle Vernon speaking. Dudley must have shook his head no because Uncle Vernon continued as if he had. "I figured it out and that boy has as much money as the Queen of England. Once we are nice enough to him for a while, he'll feel obligated to give us some of his money. That's the way he is. Just as stupid and overly caring as his father." Uncle Vernon sneered. Harry had heard enough of this. He wanted to end the conversation. So he did. By walking into the kitchen.  
"Thanks for the new clothes Aunt Petunia." He said as he strode in, giving his Aunt a kiss on the cheek. He noticed that she shuddered slightly at this.  
"And how was your day my boy?" Uncle Vernon asked cheerfully.  
"It was fine Uncle Vernon. I was just thanking Aunt Petunia. She bought me a lot of really nice clothes."  
"Wonderful! Wasn't that nice of her?" His uncle said, overly cheerful.  
"Yes, well, I've gotta go finish up my homework." Harry said so that he could get away quickly.  
"See you around son." Uncle Vernon called after him as he walked through the door. Once Harry got on the steps, he heard the three of them start talking again. When he reached his room, he looked around.  
This room has never truly been mine he thought to himself. I even felt more at home with the Weasley's. The Weasley's! He thought excitedly. I can go to the Weasley's to escape from all this madness. At least I'll be wanted there for good reasons.  
Harry quickly went to his desk and got a piece of regular paper. He was saving his parchment for his schoolwork. He quickly wrote a note to Ron, saying that he need to get away and if his father could come get him. When his 6th year had ended, Mr. Weasley had told him that all he had to do was tell them when to come pick him up and they wold be there. Now would be a good time. Harry went to Hedwig's perch and roused her form her from her sleep while tying the note to her leg  
"Hedwig, you have to get this to Ron as fast as you can okay?" She gave a sleepy hoot before flying through the window and out of sight. Harry sighed as she disappeared, then turned away from his window and back to his room.  
He started to pack his trunk, omitting his old clothes. Then he stopped. If he was going to the Weasley's, he would need his old clothes. At that house, you always had work to do. He placed them at the bottom of the trunk, so they wouldn't ruin all his new clothes. In also went his books and his school supplies. Then he changed into a gray turtle neck sweater, a pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans, and a pair of dull black semi dressy shoes. He then took off his glasses and put on his contact lenses. His Aunt and Uncle had insisted on getting those for him. They said he looked less like James that way. That was fine by Harry. Ever since he had found out what a jerk his father had been in school to others outside his group of friends, he had wanted to look less and less like his father. He had even found a way of getting his hair to stay flat; by growing it out. It now was cut to about chin length, and was just slightly wavy. He looked nothing like he had when he left school at the end of his 6th year.  
  
Harry checked his trunk to see if he had remembered everything. He had. He was closing it when he heard the breaking of glass downstairs and Aunt Petunia shriek. He smiled to himself. The Weasley's must have arrived. 


	2. The Mask Falls

CHAPTER TWO: THE MASK FALLS 

Hermione woke up very late for her. She looked at the clock and sat up quickly. 12:30 p.m.! How could that be true? She never slept that late. If she did, her parents would make her get up. They always had a long list of things for her to do. Her parents. They were going to kill her! Just thinking about them made her depressed. They cared about what she did, not about her. That was why she was always trying to be the best at school, so her parents would be happy. But no matter how well she did, her parents never seemed to be happy. Not even when she made head girl (She had gotten the letter just two days ago) were they happy. She hit her hand to her wall, but pulled it away quickly. Her eyes teared from frustration with her parents, pain and fear. Her father had been hitting her really hard if she wasn't perfect, and to him, that was never. He had grabbed her arm roughly last night and hitting the wall made it hurt a lot.

_Get a grip on yourself Hermione_ she scolded herself harshly. _Tears never have and never will get you anywhere. _

She got up finally to get dressed. She pulled on a pair of extremely long, tight black pants and a corset styled shirt that laced up in the back that was blood red. She also put on a pair of high stiletto shoes. Even with those, her pants still dragged on the ground. She unfortunately was very short. Next came makeup. Brown liquid eye shadow, a little concealer, blush, bronzer and lip gloss. Lastly she put on mascara, making her eyes pop. Finally she was ready to go. Today she was going to Diagon ally. She grabbed her list, her purse and the money her parents had given her.

She was lost in her thoughts about her trip for the day, relishing in the fact that she would be spending a full day without her parents. If she had been fully paying attention, she would have heard voices not belonging to her parents in the kitchen. As it was, she received a big shock when she walked into her kitchen and found Dumbledor, Snape and an extremely elegant, pretty witch sitting and standing around the kitchen table. She also heard loud voices and pounding coming from behind her pantry door. They sounded like her parents.

"Professor!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Please excuse us Ms. Granger. I was coming to talk with you, as I normally do to heads right before the school year starts." Hermione nodded her head. She knew he did this.

"Well," Dumbledor continued, "I happened to over hear your, er , parents talking (Hermione didn't miss the 'er' and frowned as he continued to talk) Something about a stolen child, being too much trouble and getting rid of it through poison and then I also heard Snap's name. I only heard bits and pieces of the conversation, but it was enough. Naturally, I called professor Snape and his wife here and locked your parents in the closet. Then we waited for you."

"Me sir? Why?" Hermoine asked, very confused. Shouldn't they be trying to find the child that her parents were talking about? She was horrified that they did such a thing, but she wasn't surprised.

"You were the child that they were talking about." Said the witch from her seat at the table. Seeing Hermione's stunned look, she got up to embrace Hermoine in a hug. Hermione stiffened. She only expected abuse from adults. When nothing harsh happened, she relaxed, but only slightly. This didn't go unnoticed by the witch.

She bent down so that she could look Hermione in the face. "Hermione." She said gently. Hermione raised her head to look at the witch. "Do you remember what life was like before you were six?" Seeing Hermione shake her head, she continued. "That's because your memories have been magically suppressed. Your parents (the word was said with hatred. Hermione was surprised she didn't spit when she said it) had stolen you from your real parents who loved you dearly. And now they wanted to poison you because you got to be too much trouble, which I'm sure your not, are you?" the witch asked.

"Ms. Granger's only fault is her over eagerness to learn and to help others. And that she has chosen Potter as a friend." He added quieter.

At this Hermione started to laugh and laugh. Snape had complimented her. He had also said that she was friends with Harry Potter.

"Don't make fun of her choice of friends, even if we don't agree with them." The witch said sharply.

"No, no. It's okay." Hermione said. She had finally stopped laughing. "Potter and I haven't been friends for a while now. He only needed me to copy answers off of on homework. Since last year when he got his Captain title for quidditch, he hasn't had time for me. Professor Snape," she said turning to him, "You must have noticed how his work has gone down and how I don't sit with him or Weasley any more."

Snape looked thoughtful. "You are right Ms. Granger. His work has gone down considerably. So has Longbottom's. Have you stopped helping him too?" He smiled when Hermione nodded her head.

"Honestly Severus! Cant you tell her why we are here rather than talk about her class mates?" The witch said sharply.

"Tell me what?" Hermione asked.

"Salem, that's my wife" he said nodding his head in the direction of the witch. "Wants me to tell you…. that is, well, its hard to say,….I, she, we,…." Snape became very nervous all of a sudden. Hermione would have laughed at seeing Snape showing an emotion except that she too was nervous.

"What professor Snape is trying to say is that he and Salem are your true parents." Dumbledor said quietly. Snape sighed.

Hermione's eyes got wide, but for a while she didn't say anything. Finally she got her voice back.

"But how can that be true? I don't look like either of you." She said.

Snape was white with black hair and black eyes. Salem had had tan skin, black hair and deep brown eyes. The only trait Hermione had from them was the brown eyes.

"That's because there is a spell on you." Dumbledor said. "with your permission, I will remove it." Hermione nodded her head once in agreement.

He didn't say anything, but he did wave his wand around a lot before tapping Hermione on the head. It felt to her as if a huge weight had been lifted from her and she gave a sigh of relief. Immediately she changed. Her skin became darker, her hair longer and black and wavy instead of bushy. She also grew so that now her pants weren't long on her. Over four inches!

Snape, Salem and Dumbledor gasped at her appearance. She rushed to a mirror and gasped when she saw what she looked like. She was beautiful and tall. She was also thinner as she found when she had to tighten the laces on her shirt.

When she came back she was smiling. "Did you guys call me Hermione, or did you have another name for me?" She asked, looking at Snape and Salem.

"Well, we had named you Serena, but if you prefer Hermione, keep that name." Salem said.

"Are you kidding!" Hermione yelled. "of course I'll pick Serena. It's so pretty and Hermione is so ugly." Hermione didn't say this, but by taking a new name, she was leaving her old life behind her also. She was starting over.

Dumbledor cleared his throat before speaking. "I'm just going to take these two down to Azkeban" Dumbledor said, motioning towards the closet that held Serena's fake parents. "I'll just leave you three alone." He said before apparating away.

"Well Her.. Serena." Began Snape. "Shall we go?"

"Yes. Can I ask you something?" she asked tentatively.

"Sure." Snape said, his eyes as hard as ever.

"Would you mind if I called you father." she said so quietly that you almost couldn't hear her. Snape did though. His eyes softened.

"I would love it if you called me that." He said, his voice tight with suppressed emotions.

Salem grabbed both of their hands and apparated them to Snape Manor.

"Welcome home Serena."


	3. Betrayal or Loyalty

CHAPTER THREE: BETRAYAL OR LOYALTY 

Authors Note: Hi all! Its been so long since I've updated, and I'm sorry. I just lost interest, you know? I was in a writers block, and couldn't get out of it. But I'm back now! rejoicing crowds I can't even remember if I said hi iin my other two entries, so if I didn't I'm very sorry. Please review, it's a ton of fun to get feed back, and I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes…even with spell check, I'm really bad :0P

Draco went white. He couldn't have heard correctly. He knew his father was brutal. He had scars to prove that. But what he was planning now? That went beyond everything. His father was jeopardizing the Malfoy name. And for what? To get on the better side of Voldamort. Draco wanted nothing to do with Voldamort or the Death Eater's, but whenever he told his father that, he hadn't been awake for a few days after that. Draco grimaced at the thought. Some of his scars still hurt because he never got real medical treatment.

"Draco what have you gotten yourself into this time?" he whispered quietly to himself. To disagree with his father got punishment and beatings. To betray his father and his fellow Death Eaters, possibly even Lord Voldamort; that could be his death if they weren't caught after he told someone.

But how was he going to escape death after he told the ministry his father's plans? Plans on blowing up the entire Ministry building and all the people in it?

Draco walked up the path to Snape Manor. If Snape refused to help him, he didn't know what he would do. He knocked on the door, hoping that someone was awake because it was so late. A short little house elf opened the door for him.

"What is you wanting sir?" it squeaked up to Draco.

"Could you please show me to your master?" Draco asked the elf. The house elf opened the door wider, to allow Draco in and them showed him down a long hallway to a sitting room.

"Draco!" A girl cried from a couch in the room. She was reading in front of the fireplace, which was giving off much needed warmth. Draco sighed as the warmth hit him. He was freezing.

He looked closer at the girl. She was tall, had tan skin, and black hair. He was sure he had never seen her before, but there was something familiar about her. Her eyes….. Where had he seen her eyes before?

"I'm sorry," Draco began. "Have we met?"

For a minute, the girl looked upset, but then it looked as if she realized something. "I'm sorry. I forgot about how I looked. I'm Hermione. Well I was Hermione. Now I'm Serena."

Draco had a look of utter amazement on his face. Serena couldn't help but laugh at him.

Draco leaned against the doorframe. Serena realized how good-looking he was. She could see his muscles under his wet shirt. He did look tired though. "I'm glad you think I'm funny." Draco drawled.

"I'm sorry." Serena got out. "It's just the look on your face. It was priceless." She said before she started to laugh again. Finally she calmed down enough to get up. She went over to him and gave him a hug. He, like she did, tensed up during the hug, but did relax a little. "How are you?" she asked, concern evident in her face.

At this Draco started to laugh. Hermione, wait, Serena concerned about him? He started to laugh even harder. At first Serena couldn't figure out why he was laughing, but then it hit her and she too started to laugh again. When they both had stopped laughing, she asked him again how he was. That sobered him up immediately.

"Not good to tell you the truth. That's why I'm here." Draco got up from his chair and walked to the mantel of the fireplace, leaning against it. The flames from the fire cast a glow around him, making him seem as if he were from another world. Draco was trying to draw courage from the flames to continue. Serena, sensing his discomfort went to him and laid her hand on his shoulder. He turned to her for a moment giving her a small smile before he turned back to gazing at the flames. He swallowed and then continued.

"I was eaves dropping on my father. He was having a meeting with a lot of the death eaters, and I believe Lord Voldamort was there too." He shuddered. "They were talking about…" his throat constricted. He tried again. "They were talking about…about blowing up the ministry. And not just that, all the people too and the muggles as well." He turned to face Serena, tears leaking out of his eyes. "They were going to kill all those people, thousands, for nothing but the joy of killing. And they wanted me to do the same thing at Hogwarts! Almost like an initiation process into the Death Eaters, Lord Voldamort's right hand man would be replaced by me." Draco was frustrated and upset. He hit his hand on the mantle, before cursing because it hurt.

Serena had a horrified look on her face. Would Draco do such a thing? No of course not. Why would he tell her about it then? She hugged him around the waist. He looked at her in surprise.

'Why is she like this" he thought to himself. He felt strange. A realization came to him, more powerful than any feeling he had ever felt. He turned around to return the hug. As they pulled away from the embrace he whispered "thank you' to Serena before allowing her to lead him to the couch.

"The thing is," he continued when they were sitting. "I don't want to be a Death Eater. Never have."

"But I thought…." Serena began.

"You thought that I was just like my father? That I enjoyed being mean?" He said quietly. Serena nodded.

"Everything I did at school was because my father told me too. I was afraid to defy him. Do you know what it is like to fear your parents?" He asked. He looked startled when Serena nodded her head and a pained expression came over her face. He would have to ask her about that later.

"Anything I openly disagreed with, I was beaten for. Refusing to go to a death eater's meeting got me the crutatios curse. I was helpless. I didn't get to keep my wand. When I went out in public with my father, he would put the Imperious curse on me." Serena looked horrified. "When I learned to overcome that, my father would threaten to hurt mother. I had to obey him.

"There was only one thing I didn't mind following, which was hating Potter. He acts very arrogant and gets a lot of special treatment. Sure he's got a scar, but I could get one too if I hit my head hard enough." Serena laughed, alleviating the building tension in the room.

"So what do you need me to do?" She asked

"Actually, I didn't know you were here. I came to see Professor Snape." He got a thoughtful look on his face. "Say, why are you here? And why do you look so different? And why are we getting along? He asked, chuckling. Serena chuckled too.

"I don't know why we are getting along so well. Fate maybe. I'll explain later. Now I think we should find Professor Sanpe and then rest. You can stay here. And I think some dry clothes too." Draco laughed when he realized that he was wet as he let Serena lead him out of the room to Snape's workroom.


End file.
